• Material: Ivory, Marble.
• Size: 14 1/8" by 9". Ivory plaque itself is 9" by 4 2/8".
• Date and Origin: Circa 1780 probably Dieppe, France. Marble and wood frames were probably added later.
• Conditions: Immaculate.

This is a magnificent highest Museum Quality ivory sculpture scene depicts Venus sailing on a shell surrounded by a triton and a Nereid. The scene is probably after an engraving by Giovanni Battista Cipriani. Have you ever seen anything like this amazing scene? This is the first time that I find a so rare subject, never seen before even not carved on shell. This subject is rarest and in this cameo it was more than masterfully carved. The three dimensionality of the scene makes it real and just gives the impression that all the figures are jumping out of the sea. Venus body is perfect in every detail, feminine and wonderfully sensual, her breast is perfect, she sits on the two dolphins with such a grace while driving them holding their reins. Look at the amazing way the reins are carved, they are, on some points, detached from any surface, an incredible skill of the carver. The two dolphins are fantastic, there is a lot of harmony in their movement. The triton is blowing his horn and his body emerges fierce from the sea and shows all the masculine strength, his body with his muscles perfectly designed and carved, he seems to have a body of an athlete, simply wonderful. The Nereid is holding Venus' drapery, look at her hand holding the flowing robe, her movement is so elegant and full of grace. Her long and curly hair and her nude body are magnificently carved. This sculpture reminds me the bas-reliefs sculptures of Thorvaldsen or Gibson. All the beauty of this world is in this ivory cameo. I'm speechless and breathless looking at it. As mentioned previously for other ivory pieces which I had, French and Germans were masters in art of ivory carving. This is a wonderful example of the French ivory art. Pictures really don't give any justice to this work of art.


A bit of history:
Venus was a major Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty and fertility, the equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Venus was the consort of Vulcan. She was considered the ancestor of the Roman people by way of its legendary founder, Aeneas, and played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths. Venus had no childhood: in every image and each reference she is born adult, nubile, and infinitely desirable. Venus, in many of the late anecdotal myths involving her, is characterized as vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. Though she is one of the few gods of the Greek Pantheon to be actually married, she is frequently unfaithful to her husband. Hephaestus is one of the most even-tempered of the Hellenic deities; in the narrative embedded in the Odyssey Venus seems to prefer Ares, the volatile god of war. She is one of a few characters who played a major part in the original cause of the Trojan War itself: not only did she offer Helen of Sparta to Paris, but the abduction was accomplished when Paris, seeing Helen for the first time, was inflamed with desire to have her—which is Venus' realm. Due to her immense beauty Zeus was frightened that she would be the cause of violence between the other gods. He married her off to Hephaestus, the dour, humourless god of smithing.  Her unhappiness with her marriage caused Aphrodite to seek out companionship from others, most frequently Ares, but also Adonis. Cupid or Eros was son of Venus.